The Poppy War
What makes something a literary piece versus just a genre piece, is what I thought to myself upon finishing The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang. Going into it I had remembered it being a Young Adult title, and as the story progressed, it fit the bill.
Our protagonist is a young girl who doesn’t know too much about her past. She has fairly horrible parents who take part in the poppy trade in China. From the start I could tell the novel would lean on historical elements, just by how certain details were presented. In fact, this book is well-researched, and coddles military thinking. I’ll get to that in a moment.
Our protagonist is bent on being accepted into a top military school, which, if she is accepted, could change her life. She can go from a peasant and nobody to a somebody who can kill people. The vibe here is young adult, in the sense that it has those I’m in a school and I meet the main characters in class and my frenemies, and all the wise teachers that I don’t quite understand. Yes, that is all one vibe.
If I’m honest, it too me aback because I was expecting a more fantasy introduction to the setting. It’s billed as epic fantasy with a cultural tilt, so that’s what my pallet was geared for. I thought it would feel snobbier, in a good way. I thought there would be more attention to technique and timing and that stuff that nobody really cares about but me, I suppose. Instead, I found YA tropes and a bit of overwriting the dialogue. Not a bad thing. It works. It’s effective. Spoiler. It’s a good book, just not as snobby as I’d like it.
When the fantasy elements start to take hold, it’s super cool. It’s done in a way that the reader gets to use all of their faculties to imagine these super cool gods, and it doesn’t hurt that to enter the meditative state is to puff some opium. Yes, it’s very scary. Call the gods and be super cool, but, yeah, you’ll probably get addicted, which is super uncool.
The stakes are fantastic. We know from the title there’s a coming war. When it arrives we have fun seeing how all the classmates are doing. We get some cool warfare, and I have to admit, we lost the protagonist to the situation. She spends a very long time reacting to things she can’t control and won’t control.
Full disclosure. While reading The Poppy War, I had to switch to audiobook, because I realized that although I liked the story, the writing wasn’t doing it for me. That’s actually not a knock on the writing. There’s simply a way I like to read and this novel does not offer it.
The characters are done well—their roles, their personalities—all of that stuff is done well. You might not like it but it’s still done well.
The lore that’s given and how it’s given is great. I think most folks will dig it. The war and the fighting are taken researched and promptly borrowed from conflicts that took place during World War 2, but not in Europe. We’re talking about Chinese conflicts with the Japanese, if I have it right. It’s fascinating and dark and violent as anything you’ll read.
Our protagonist responds to the violence like only she can, in a fashion I was hoping for. The presentation of what she did, I think I was looking for something else. She did it nonetheless, and it’s fantastic. Probably the most brutal thing she could possibly do. Just kind of wow. Now that I think of it, I can’t think of a single protagonist in any other novel who did anything as devastating as she did. Super cool stuff. But we know she has it in her to do some over the top things to achieve some over the top stuff. I’ll say this without adding a spoiler: she probably won’t be a mother. Before you get all up in arms about me saying it, read the book and then we’ll talk. There’s a huge decision she makes rather quickly and at a very young age. The decision floored me. Only, there’s hardly any real mention of it thematically.
The question is still this: is it a young adult novel, seeing it utilizes so many of those tropes, or is it fantasy and historical fiction? For this one I’m going to go with it being a young adult novel that will probably become a literary piece with the addition of the other novels.
if you’re wondering what makes something young adult literary fiction versus fantasy, go read Speak or, hell, Catcher in the Rye. It’s not what this post is about, but I know there are a few of you out there who would like to think ALL books can be anything. I’m not in that camp. Sorry.
I’ll wrap with this thought: this being the first book in the trilogy, there are numerous things that happened to the protagonist that I wish stuck with her more, that I wish I was reminded lived in her heart. I’m talking themes I thought were right there to be utilized.
The Poppy War is well worth a read. I’m not going to continue the series, not right now at least. I don’t like the writing enough. But the story is fantastic, and I’m not sure if there’s anything quite like it.
